Avalon's First Birthday Party

Hi all,


Avalon celebrated her FIRST birthday with a fun party on February 20! The weather was sunny and gorgeous and everyone had a great time.


We had about 50 in attendance....about 20 were kids/babies. The party was held near our house in the "Ford Parkette". My parents flew down from Seattle to help the birthday girl celebrate her milestone birthday.




I'll let the photos tell the story of the day...


Every birthday girl needs a princess hat! Avalon wasn't a big fan of wearing it, however!



I made 25 take-away goodie bags for the kids.... Yes, most things are PINK as that was definitely the theme color for the day!

I put a funny little birthday poem on the tags that hung on each goodie bag...

I wanted a take-away treat for the adults, too....so I made and wrapped about 50 rice krispy treats! The perfect food for a first year birthday...yum!!! I put the same poem-tag on these, too.

While I've never been much of a baker, I have gotten kind of interested in it lately. I wanted to make a special cake for Avalon...and it turned into quite the project! I think this cake took me about 24 hours!!!! It was a 6 layer, 3 tier cake.....one vanilla tier with chocolate filling, one chocolate tier with butter cream filling, and one lemon tier with butter cream filling. YUM YUM YUM!

The cake weighed about 20 pounds! Luckily John CARRIED IT to the park for me! Look at that serious look on his face!!!

Part of the birthday treat table...

I also made a Happy Birthday banner for Avalon. Something about having a child has made me so domesticated! :) Here's the banner...

And the whole banner hanging on the toy structure in the park...

Ooooooh....Avalon was completely spoiled by her friends and family for her birthday!

We arranged some live entertainment for the party! :) Trey sang and played the guitar for the kids. After about 5 songs he also sang "happy birthday" - it was perfect!

We had a pinata, filled to the bring with candy for the kids, hanging from a tree in the park. This pinata was not the typical one that you hit with a stick - instead this one had ribbons that kids can gently pull to open the pinata. Avalon pulled the first ribbon (with some help from mommy and daddy, of course)!

Some of the kids waiting in line for their chance to pull a ribbon on the pinata...

Daddy and the birthday girl...

Mommy and Avalon blowing out the birth candle!

Helping Avalon to cut the BIG cake...

Avalon and her Grandparents...

Avalon gazing up at her friend, Drew!



Avalon soooo happy after a fun and fabulous FIRST birthay party!

Thank you for celebrating Avalon's birthday with us! You helped us to make it so memorable for us.

All our love, xo

J, J + A

Avalon is ONE - Happy Birthday!!!

Hi all,


Avalon is ONE!!! Her birthday was such a fun day for all of us. She ate cake (well, she actually ended up wearing most of it), wore a Korean hanbok in a mini-ceremony at home, and had her 12 month pediatrician check-up.


The pictures below tell the story of Avalon's first birthday...


#1 Mommy made Avalon a yellow two tiered "smash" cake with vanilla frosting. True, not very "baby friendly" in terms of the ingredients, but we wanted Avalon to get her first real sweet treat. Also, we figured that she wouldn't eat much...






#2 The table set up with some items for the Korean ceremony (more on this below), along with her party hat and some presents!



#3 Every girl needs a princess party hat, right?

#4 Yum!

#5 The official birthday girl bib...

In this set of photos, you see the special Korean outfit that John's parents got for Avalon to wear in her first birthday ceremony. During the ceremony, a one year old sits in front of a table of items. The items that the one year old grabs symbolizes who they might become in their future life. Avalon had a number of traditional items in front of her....books/paper/pen (symbolizing intelligence), colored string (symbolizing a long life), money (symbolizing weath), food (symbolizing a life of plenty)...as well as some non-traditional items that we added to the mix....a mini beach ball (symbolizing being athletic), a little heart (symbolizing being well loved), and a mini surfboard (yes, daddy hopes Avalon may be a professional surfer!).

The following pictures show the Korean hanbok.

#1 Shoes, socks, and bag...

#2 Love these ornate shoes...too bad they don't come in my size...

#3 Avalon's first hand bag...first of many, if she is anything like Mommy!

#4 The socks....Avalon couldn't get them with the shoes though. Guess her feet have too much "padding"!

#5 The head-piece...

#6 The dress...actually a dress with a jacket on top.

#7 The jacket...

#8 The hanbok (in the back) with another gorgeous dress John's parents got for Avalon in Korea.



In these next photos, Avalon is wearing her little birthday shirt and skirt and getting ready for all of the fun!

#1 Looking good in hot pink.



#2 Trying on the birthday bib. We were singing "Happy Birthday" to her at this point, so I think she was starting to get excited for something! Not that she knew what was really going on! :)



#3 Birthday girl with her hat and mommy...

#4 Opening presents!

#5 Is she actually reading that card?

Once the presents were opened, we started the Korean ceremony.

#1 The objects layed out on the floor so that Avalon could get to them easily.

#2 Avalon in her hanbok!!!! So adorable!



#3 Checking on the items before her...

#4 She's got her eyes locked on to something...

#5 She grabed the pen and book of paper first....symbolizng intelligence. Of course, we already knew that our little monkey is a smart girl! Right after that she touched the mini heart (she will continue to be well loved), and the mini surfboard (get ready to share the waves with Avalon, daddy!).

#6 Oohhh...shiny pen!



#7 Taking her items away with her....showing off her diaper!

#8 Love her in this outfit...

#9 With daddy...

#10 With mommy...

#11 We pulled up her dress to show off those glamorous shoes!

#12 The hemline kept getting shorter!!









#13 It's hard to walk around in a long dress!

#14 Love these final profile shots...






Once the hanbok was taken off and was safely put away, the cake came out! We left Avalon in her diaper only....no clothes needed for smashing a cake!
#1 The "before shot"

#2 Blowing out her candle with help from mommy and daddy...

#3 Checking it out...

#4 A first taste!

#5 Yum!!!!

#6 Picking up a big piece! And wearing alot of frosting...

#7 The "after" shot of the cake!! She truly enjoyed it!

What a fun day...and what an amazing year this has been! Having a daughter is sheer bliss. Thanks for coming along on the ride with us.

Here's to another year filled with happiness, love, health and laughter for all of us! Don't forget to eat cake!

All our love, xo

Johanna, John + Avalon